1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to oxidant compositions and in particular, to hydrogen peroxide and hypohalite-containing solids and methods for their preparation.
2. Brief Statement of the Prior Art
Hydrogen peroxide and alkali metal hypohalites are commonly used inorganic oxidizing agents. Unfortunately, these chemicals are relatively unstable and must be stored and handled in dilute liquid solutions, hydrogen peroxide requiring stabilizing additives such as acetanilide and exclusion of alkalies while the hypohalites require alkaline solutions for stability.
The hypohalite ions, which can be formed by the reaction of a halogen with water, are very unstable and the hypohalous acids can not be recovered in the pure state. Even the alkali metal salts of these acids are unstable and the anhydrous salts are, in fact, explosive. This is unfortunate since these materials are excellent oxidizing agents, having strong oxidation potentials and, therefore, are of potential utility as antiseptics, disinfectants, bleaching agents and the like.
The hypohalite ion is stabilized in alkaline solutions, typically by dissolving a halogen in an aqueous base such as sodium hydroxide. While the presence of the base stabilizes the hypohalite ion, in aqueous solutions, anhydrous salts obtained from the solution are unstable and, in fact, are explosive. Consequently, the use of hypohalites, heretofore, has been confined to the employment of aqueous solutions of the alkali metal hypohalites such as sodium hypochlorite.
Even the alkaline solutions of sodium hypochlorite are too unstable for some uses and the acute toxicity of this material limits its use to external applications such as the treatment of wounds or external skin diseases. The high water solubility of the alkali metal hypohalites also limits their utility as bleaching or oxidizing agents since these agents are immediately dissolved and dispersed through the treated aqueous liquid immediately following their addition and it is not possible to provide a reserve of the material that will be slowly released over an extended period of time.